The reason I was thinking about Parelli, is because he has the name, fame, and he advertises trainers on his site.

Keep in mind that if the "name and fame" has so much negative attached to it then it's not something you'd want to "advertise". I'd never even heard of Parrelli until a few years ago when someone mentioned that I was using "natural" horse training and asked who's methode I was using. Answer: My grandfathers??? I'd never heard of it. We always trained horses this way for at least 4+ generations. It was how horses were/are trained. Find some old timers like some of my older cousins who are in there 80's and still training horses the way their grandfather did. Ask them if they do "Natural horsemanship" and if theyscratch their head and ask what the hell is that then you've probably found a good teacher .

To really benefit from all these "natural" horse trainers promoting "their" system (which was around before they were born) you'd need to take instruction from them all, because everything they do is good and bad (but they'll never admit it) depending on the horse. No one system is good for every horse. The old timers knew that you learn the horse and train it based on what works, but that's not always the same for every horse. The majority of training a horse is common sense, learning the horse and patience. The rest is time and sweat.

I've loved showing people the two I'm training now as great examples of what works with one doesn't work with the other. Something as simple as teaching them to give me their feet and letting me hold them took 15 minutes with one and she'd give me all four feet. The other horse took a day for the front feet and almost two weeks before she'd pick up and let me clean the back feet. Of course 4 days of the 2 weeks was spent finding out things that weren't going to work and finding something that held promise and ultimately did work.

My point is that focus more on learning how to train and less on some system that someone is marketing. These marketers run into problems when they get a horse that doesn't want to learn using their technique. They are then stuck with having the force the situation (which is NOT teaching "naturally") or using a technique that's not part of their "system" (they can't afford to do that, because after all the hype they put out it's bad press to say "my system doesn't always work best for every horse in every situation")

Ok, I'll climb down off my soap box . I have to go trim 8 feet on this hot day

Keep in mind that if the "name and fame" has so much negative attached to it then it's not something you'd want to "advertise". I'd never even heard of Parrelli until a few years ago when someone mentioned that I was using "natural" horse training and asked who's methode I was using. Answer: My grandfathers??? I'd never heard of it. We always trained horses this way for at least 4+ generations. It was how horses were/are trained. Find some old timers like some of my older cousins who are in there 80's and still training horses the way their grandfather did. Ask them if they do "Natural horsemanship" and if theyscratch their head and ask what the hell is that then you've probably found a good teacher .

To really benefit from all these "natural" horse trainers promoting "their" system (which was around before they were born) you'd need to take instruction from them all, because everything they do is good and bad (but they'll never admit it) depending on the horse. No one system is good for every horse. The old timers knew that you learn the horse and train it based on what works, but that's not always the same for every horse. The majority of training a horse is common sense, learning the horse and patience. The rest is time and sweat.

I've loved showing people the two I'm training now as great examples of what works with one doesn't work with the other. Something as simple as teaching them to give me their feet and letting me hold them took 15 minutes with one and she'd give me all four feet. The other horse took a day for the front feet and almost two weeks before she'd pick up and let me clean the back feet. Of course 4 days of the 2 weeks was spent finding out things that weren't going to work and finding something that held promise and ultimately did work.

My point is that focus more on learning how to train and less on some system that someone is marketing. These marketers run into problems when they get a horse that doesn't want to learn using their technique. They are then stuck with having the force the situation (which is NOT teaching "naturally") or using a technique that's not part of their "system" (they can't afford to do that, because after all the hype they put out it's bad press to say "my system doesn't always work best for every horse in every situation")

Ok, I'll climb down off my soap box . I have to go trim 8 feet on this hot day

Excellent advice. There's not a clinician out there that didn't have a slew of teachers to get were they are. It'll take the same with anybody else.

Keep in mind that if the "name and fame" has so much negative attached to it then it's not something you'd want to "advertise". I'd never even heard of Parrelli until a few years ago when someone mentioned that I was using "natural" horse training and asked who's methode I was using. Answer: My grandfathers??? I'd never heard of it. We always trained horses this way for at least 4+ generations. It was how horses were/are trained. Find some old timers like some of my older cousins who are in there 80's and still training horses the way their grandfather did. Ask them if they do "Natural horsemanship" and if theyscratch their head and ask what the hell is that then you've probably found a good teacher .

To really benefit from all these "natural" horse trainers promoting "their" system (which was around before they were born) you'd need to take instruction from them all, because everything they do is good and bad (but they'll never admit it) depending on the horse. No one system is good for every horse. The old timers knew that you learn the horse and train it based on what works, but that's not always the same for every horse. The majority of training a horse is common sense, learning the horse and patience. The rest is time and sweat.

I've loved showing people the two I'm training now as great examples of what works with one doesn't work with the other. Something as simple as teaching them to give me their feet and letting me hold them took 15 minutes with one and she'd give me all four feet. The other horse took a day for the front feet and almost two weeks before she'd pick up and let me clean the back feet. Of course 4 days of the 2 weeks was spent finding out things that weren't going to work and finding something that held promise and ultimately did work.

My point is that focus more on learning how to train and less on some system that someone is marketing. These marketers run into problems when they get a horse that doesn't want to learn using their technique. They are then stuck with having the force the situation (which is NOT teaching "naturally") or using a technique that's not part of their "system" (they can't afford to do that, because after all the hype they put out it's bad press to say "my system doesn't always work best for every horse in every situation")

Ok, I'll climb down off my soap box . I have to go trim 8 feet on this hot day

You summed up my experience pretty well too. I've found the same pitfalls in all of the various 'systems'. I've tried them all, tried to follow some to the letter and invariably some horse has come along the next day to remind me that it doesn't work that way.

One thing that I like to do is to watch their DVDs with the sound off so that I can't be influenced by what they're saying. Some people might be surprised at the things that become apparent when they're not being led down the path with smooth talk about only the things that the trainer wants to call attention to.

For me if you go through all the DVDs that I do have which are not all that many you will find one under lying consistence. All the trainers in those videos are not so much selling a system but showing what THEY did to get the results you see when they go out and win.

My collection includes trainers like Shawn Flarida, Al Dunning and Stacy Westfall to name a few. These are not trainers who are selling a system but trainers who have proven that what they do works and then shows you what they did to get that results. They have proven time and time again with a lot of different horses that the way they do things work. You will also see that they can and do change depending on the horse.

What I like about these trainers is that they are excessable. Ex. I can go to a show in my area and see Shawn and Stacy working their horses in the warm up pen and see how they are working those horses.

Heck I remember watching Stacy show Can Can Lena before she won Congress freestyle on that horse. Same thing with Roxy. I watched her show that mare in July of 06 before she showed her at Congress. Seeing how she worked those horses in the time before those big runs was very telling.

Same watching Shawn and Mike and so many others who are proven to be great trainers. I also enjoy watching trainers who have apprenticed under these trainers. Gab Hutchenson comes to mind.

What exactly do you want to "get out of it?" Do you want to become a trainer? A barn manager? A riding instructor? Do you have a specific riding discipline or breed to focus on?

Keep in mind that you'd really be limiting yourself if your only documented horse-related "credentials" were graduating from one particular BNT's so-called university. Realistically, the only thing it means is that you've shelled out a LOT of money to learn a very, very narrow scope of horsemanship.

The only people who would likely be impressed by that and willing to pay for your expertise would be people who are also Parelli followers. . .and in the grand scheme of the horse industry, that's not many people. As "big" as they present themselves, the Parelli's are not nearly as influential or important as they think they are.

Word-of-mouth matters in the horse world. It's not enough to just take a couple of classes and have a couple of certificates showing that you passed a course. I knew a farrier whose whole education in his trade was through a correspondence school. . .he barely had any horse experience, and it really showed. And not in a good way.

Potential clients/customers will want to know what you've done, if you've had any success in competition, any other trainers or barns you have worked for, etc. They will want to know that their horse is in good hands, they will want results.

If you want to learn, look into a working student position with a trainer. The pay is not great. You may not get paid at all - you may just "work off" board for yourself or a horse, and training time with the trainer. The hours are long and the work is hard. But good references from the trainer and clients you interact with will do more for your reputation in the long run.

If you want to learn more, go to as many different clinics as you can. Watch a pile of DVDs. Take lessons from different trainers.

If you are considering a career in horse training your going to have to make some sacrifices. Like moving and making very little money for long hours to apprentice under someone. I haven't found any apprentice positions you could "half ass". Either you were there riding, saddling and grooming 6 or 7 days a week or they find someone else that will.

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